In this story, a single mom of three children, including a 16-year-old daughter named Polly, struggles to find support and asks her daughter to babysit her younger sister, Cassie, when her son falls ill and she has no other options. Polly refuses, drops Cassie off at the neighbor’s, and goes out with her friends, causing her mother to be furious and grounding her for two weeks.
Source: Reddit
I’m the single mom of 3 kids: “Polly” (16F), “Trevor” (12M) and “Cassie” (8F). I have little to no support. Their father left after Cassie was born, no family nearby, etc. I have 2 sitters that I can call on as needed and I use them before I’d ever ask Polly for help. I don’t want her missing out on her teenage years. Before this incident, I only ever asked her to babysit once because I had no one else and I paid her $15/hr (at the time, above minimum wage).
This past Saturday, Polly was due to hang out with some friends. For a couple of days, Trevor was ill, but testing negative for Covid. That day, he spiked a very high fever and I had to take him to the ER. I asked Polly to watch Cassie as the sitters weren’t responding. I apologized that she’d have to miss out on time with friends but said I’d pay her and she could even have her friends over our place. Polly pitched a fit and asked why I couldn’t send Cassie to the neighbors. We don’t know them. They moved in last month and outside waving when we get our mail, I don’t have a relationship with them. Polly was irritated. I told her I’d pay her $18/hr and that I had to go.
I take Trevor to the ER and we have to wait a bit. Polly kept asking if the sitters responded and they hadn’t. Eventually it was our time to be seen, so I told Polly i’d be out of reach for a bit. Turns out, Trevor had a bad case of RSV and due to pre-existing health problems, had to be admitted for the night. I was terrified.
When I called Polly to update her, I heard people talking in the background and said “oh, you had your friends come over?” She told me no, she dropped Cassie at the neighbor’s and went out. I was furious. I told her to go home and get her sister. I then asked for the neighbor’s number, she didn’t even ask for it. Which, I get teenage logic but still. At first Polly refused until I told her she was grounded. I made her FaceTime me when she got home to show that Cassie was with her.
Eventually, my mom was able to make the 2 hour drive down to stay with the girls but I told her to not let Polly leave the house. The next day, Trevor and I were able to go home. I lectured Polly about what she did and grounded her for 2 weeks. She got mad at me and said that I can’t expect her to drop her plans. I point out I never do, but this was an emergency and her brother was sick. She told me that’s not her problem. She’s also mad because I won’t pay her. I apologized profusely to the neighbor who said it was okay and that he would’ve called me but Polly didn’t leave my number either. Polly said I overreacted. Who Do you think is wrong?
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